Annie, Get Your Gun!

Last weekend we celebrated my father's birthday. We've lost count with what year this was in honor of, but suffice it to say that I know he's older than 40 and younger than 80. That leaves you with a good estimate, right?!

Aside from the steak dinner, we gifted him with a solution to one of his problems to honor the day of his birth. No, it wasn't a hearing aid or man girdle...

Dad has a squirrel and bird problem in his back yard that has become too much of a task for his dog, Spice. We gave Dad a bb gun so that he can more successfully tackle the problem.

Cooper, being a true Texas boy was very interested in Grandad's gun, and Grandad had no problem sharing with him. (Believe me, we're going to have to set down some boundaries for Grandad after this experience.)

Rest assured, it is just a bb gun and it was firing nothing but air. But, you can be very afraid in that the first thing Cooper did was take off chasing his sister with the gum aimed at her until Daniel grabbed him and put a stop to the chase. Very, very, very stern words were spoken, and the gun was placed back in Grandad's hands.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

I told you I would be back! I apologize for the unbelievably long absence, but this month has run over me like a freight train. I'm hoping to get some semblance of a normal routine soon, which includes getting back to daily blogging. I have a lot to catch you up on! For starters, my parents came to visit last weekend and we spent all of Saturday at a pumpkin farm in Marble Falls.

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We kicked the day off by posing in many of the stick-your-head-through-the-fake-scenery walls. The kids thought they were so silly! I wish I had known they were so easy to entertain. I'll start buying posterboards and cutting holes in them and letting them paint on their own scene of fun and just take pictures after they create. It will be much cheaper than traipsing all over Central Texas to experience all the fun. Ha!


But, the hands-on fun is more my style. We got our hands dirty by painting pumpkins. Poor Kelly Ann ended up helping a random kid seated with us at the table. I think she little girl thought Kelly was an adult just observing, but she was really there to paint her own pumpkin alongside the other kids.

Abigail and Cooper were especially excited when they took off on a hay ride to the other side of the farm. They told us all about going through the wooded area and seeing the many scarecrows and ghostly decorations.

While they were on that side of the farm, they stopped at the flower fields to pick a cup of flowers.

Unfortunately, Abigail is not a future flower bouquet arranger, but instead took interest in only the sad flowers. I was looking forward to having a fresh flower arrangement like I saw the other kids coming back with. Instead, she came back to me with this pitiful arrangement of wilted and dead flowers.

Ma and Pa Kettle joined us in the fun as well!

We did get some cups of goat food, but Cooper was more interested in getting the poor goats to eat leaves and sticks off the ground. Every time I turned around he was sticking something else through the fence.

Fortunately, we did get to feed our own faces and it wasn't with leaves and sticks. We feasted on some delicious homemade pumpkin ice cream. It was soooo yummy! It was the first time I've thought that the pumpkin blizzard at Dairy Queen may not be as disgusting as it sounds.

Before heading back home, the kids took in one last adventure on this train pulled by a tractor through a corn field. Too fun!

I Promise I'm Coming Back SOON!

In the meantime...

Brrr.....

Something strange happened last week... It got cold! Daniel and I were both off work last Tuesday, and the kids were out of school, because it was parent/teacher conference day at school. We breezed through our conferences early in the morning and then headed out for a day of family fun. What was planned to be a trip to Dallas for the Texas State Fair, quickly changed to a local day of trying to stay dry. The entire state was dreched in rain (thank you, Lord!), so we made the best of a leisure iHop breakfast and a 3-D matinee of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. However, while we were in the theater, the weather turned nasty and we ventured out into a very chilly day. Thus, the rest of our day was spent at the mall because my children have very few fall clothes that fit. Cooper didn't even own a jacket. Serious sales at Macy's and The Children's Place fixed that problem, and we set off for school on Wednesday in long sleeves and jackets. The bad mother award was narrowly avoided once again!

But, it's Texas, so the temps were back into the upper 90s by Friday and the short sleeves and summer clothes have been in back full force since then. Usually, the kids where their Longhorn gear on Fridays, but last week, Abigail rebelled, that stinker. She did, at least, wear it for the game on Saturday, and she's much more adept at showing off her Hook 'em Horns sign than Cooper is, so I let her slide this time. Ha!

Also on Friday, I spent my lunch break with the kids at school. They both have weekly chore charts and are working hard making beds, cleaning floors, taking out trash and various other activities, so we get to have fun with rewards every week. One of those happens each Friday when Daniel or myself takes lunch to them at school. It's fun to see them in their school element with friends and teachers. They are growing up and have their own world away from home, and I love seeing them in that element. I'm so thankful that we have jobs that allow us to spend time with the kids at school. And, I'll take advantage of that while they are still young enough to want us to hang out with them.

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Retraction and Apology

A few months ago I ranted and railed against Twitter, and now I'm back to grovel and ask your forgiveness for my misgivings and infraction against mobile social networking technology. That's right. You read it right. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.

I gave Twitter a look-see go around, and finally found what everyone has been raving about. It's so much better than Facebook, which is so much better than MySpace. Thus, it trumps them all! The mobility of TwitterBerry on my Blackberry is so much more awesome than the limited aspects of Facebook I can easily access from my phone.

Mostly, I like the briefness of Twitter. Facebook is all encompassing of my social networking life. And, I've found that my "friends" are mostly people who are eavesdropping on my life. They don't want to "talk" to me or comment on my comments or photos. They just want to steal peeks at pics of my life and not ever have to actually engage in conversation or interact with me. I call that eavesdropping, and it's not polite. Thus, I'm a convert. So, please forgive my shortsideedness on this issue. I apologize.

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Tuesday Treats: Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie

I've been looking for new dinner recipes lately, and this one I found on another blog hit the spot a few weeks ago at dinner (and again at dinner the next night - yea for leftovers!). Not only did I already have the ingredients in my pantry/fridge, but it was super easy to throw together. You can't go wrong with that kind of luck!

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 cups Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers (from two 12 oz. bags)
1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated garlic butter crescent rolls

Directions:
In a large saucepan, heat cooked chicken, thawed vegetables, pasta sauce and milk over medium heat. Stir occasionally until thoroughly heated. Pour into a 9 X 13 Pyrex and cover the top with crescent triangles and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.

I think I may try it again with plain crescent rolls and see how the flavor changes. But, my family loved it as the recipe calls it. Enjoy!

Deal Day

I promise I am not becoming a coupon blog, but I must share this week's deals. It's just too fun not too! I've had quite a few people ask me how to ultra-coupon, and I hope I've convinced other people that this is the way to shop. If not, you're crazy. Seriously, people, you're just throwing money away if you pass up on the chance to purchase at a discount. And, it doesn't have to end at groceries and toiletries. I had some Kohl's coupons that I put to use Sunday afternoon and ended up spending less than $9 and saving $193.86. Last week, I was able to get a KitchenAid mixmaster for $191. That's just nuts because it was regularly priced at $499! I can't tell you how excited I am to get into my holiday season baking with my new mixer. Woo-hoo! Bath & Body Works was another retail outlet where I spent just $3, and left with three anti-bacterial soaps yesterday.

Here's my Walgreens deals this week. I don't go there every week because they don't always have the best deals, but I did okay this week. This cost me $9.12, and was a savings of $27.07.

CVS had some awesome deals this week. After adding on all the Extra Bucks (rewards that you use as cash for the next 30 days at CVS) and scanning my coupons, my receipt was so long that I HAD to measure it. It's 5 feet long! All of this cost me $37.32 and was a savings of $119.49.

My favorite place to shop, Target, is always my best savings place. I got all of this for just $36.83 and saved $86.44. That was a fun trip: 12 bags of Chex Mix, 3 small Renu bottles, 3 4-packs of Activia, 3 4-packs of Danimals, 2 Gillete razors with cartridges, 6 Jimmy Dean scramble bowls, 8 Quaker granola bars, 2 Aveeno baby lotions (for charity), 4 jars of Skippy peanut butter, Stuart Little 2 DVD, and 3 California Pizza Kitchen pizzas.

I went to Randalls last night for some other groceries, and had a 67% savings. I usually do better, but they didn't have everything that would have helped give me overage (more savings than the item costs, giving you money to pay for other items on your receipt), but I'll go back tomorrow and probably be able to pick up those items and get that savings. My favorite item was the Surf detergent boxes that are 120 loads and only cost $7. Needless to say, we are definitely set for laundry detergent. That's a great deal, so I picked up two boxes!

I still have to go to Wal-Mart, but wanted to get this out to you and hopefully inspire you to check out some of the websites I mentioned last week. You'll find all the same deals I did and can get these deals through Saturday. Happy shopping!

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